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Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17452, 12 May 1922, Page 6

For the present, at least, scientific men must forgo the pleasure of foregathering with a plesiosaurus. The expedition which left Buenos Aires in March, with the object of securing a specimen 0/ this relic of the past, which had beer, reported to have.been swimming in a mountain lake in Patagonia returned some ten days ago, not only empty-handed, but without having caught a glimpse af the creature. It seems, now, that there are grave doubts as to whether it was really a plesiosaurus that had been seen. In the opinion of-Professor Onelli, Director of. the Buenos Aires Zoo, it was probablv a descendant of the horny-plated glypto_ddn (an animal resembling an armadillo but the size of an ox) or of the megatherium, a gigantic sloth, some eighteen feet long. This obviously robbed the expedition of much of its incentive, for whereas the plesiosaurus is of quite respectable antiquity, dating back some, ten million years and therefore belonging to one of the first families, the glyptbdon and the megatherium are mere parvenus, whose ancestry can be 1 traced back for only about a million years. Professor Onelli declared further that ancient, not. fossil, remains of an animal of this family were found in Patagonia in 1897, that one was fired at and hit, but not hurt, by an explorer, Ramon Lista, in 1890, and that since the latter year- "mysterious creatures" havo been reported to be seen in twelve different places in Patagonia.

The ancient animal remains, spoken of by the Pro.'essor as being found in 1897 were no doubt those of a giant prehistoric gn md-sloth, believed at first to.be mylodon, which a Dr. Moreno diScOTtred in a cave in the The <&ftlj|frai -Uent was a piece of dried s.kin, covered -ith hair and possessing ■characteristics which led scientists to believe that it was a portion of the grypothtrium, u relative of the glyptodon and mylodon. The discovery, coupled with a remark by Professor Ray Lankestcr, Director of the British Museum of Natural History, that it was quite possible that the mylodon still existed in some of the mountainous regions of Patagonia, created some stir in scientific circles, and induced the lato Sir Arthur Pearson to finance an expedition, led by Mr Hesketh Pritchard, to go out to Patagonia, make investigations on the spot, and sift thoroughly all the evidence for or agaipst the survival there of prehistoric animals. For months this expedition travelled through the country, its experiences being described in Mr Prichard's fascinating book "Through the Heart of Patagonia." During the whole time, Mr Pricliard says he came upon no scrap of evidence of any kind which would support the idea of a survival of the mylodop, or, indeed, of any animal believed to be extinct. The Indians, he found, possessed a number of legends of a sensational nature, concerning huge mysterious beasts alleged to haunt remote an 3 desolate spots, and also the deep forests of the Andes, but nothing in the faintest' degree supporting these stories could be discovered. The latest expedition appears to have been due to someone who had been listening to these Indian stories.

Skirts .are'to be longer. We Lave read cable messages of less moment, and certainly of less interest to many people, than this announcement of a new mode that was inevitable.' Sinoe change, at, greater or less intervuls, is the soul of fashion, it was certain that the .style of skirts would alter, and as these garmpnts could not well become shorter, especially as winter is ooming pn, it was obvious that they would grow longer. ' France has already settled this question, for the time being. Parisian women, we read, will wear outdoor skirts of medium length "plainly showing the ankle"; indoor dresses and those for dances and dinners will be nearly of ankle length. In England the opposing advocates of short and long have joined battle. Leading artists, including Sir James (Shannon, President of the Society t>f Portrait Painters, prominent society women, dressmakers, and "movie" stars, are all expressing their views, pro and con, with an energy suitable to the settlement of the problems being discussed at Genoa. Sir W. Orpen, the famous painter, has been laying down the law in the "Daily Mail,'' and has advanced the theory that fashionable dressing should show the best, and not the worst, of woman, a cryptic Temark which suggests that the length of the skirt shtmld vary according to the style of limb it covers, or leaves uncovered. The least observant among us must have discerned at times forms which obviously clamoured for the privacy of the ankle-length skirt ( but which, such is woman's slavish constancy to the mode of the day, had clamoured in vain.

But, after all, we do not know much in Christchurch about the really short skirt.' For fuller knowledge, if any desires it, he would have to go, it appears, to the States. That, at least, is what we gather from a recent incident in Sydney, when a constable, seeing a young woman in the centre of a crowd of deeply interested spectators,found that she was wearing a very short frock, just reaching her knees, and stockings, 'rolled down below the knees. The official mind, jumped to conclusions. "Are you an. advertise' ment for anything?" he asked. He was assured that she was "only an American tourist," puzzled to know what interested the crowd. "Why, in New York everybody is wearing bare knees. It is fashionable to have them rouged and powdered." The production of &, powder puff' was the cue for the policeman to "move on" the fascinated gazers, who, he evidently thought, had seen as much as was good for them. It seems a long way) from this young woman, displaying her bare powdered knees in a city street, to the bride whose

"feet beneath her petticoat, Like little mice, stole in and out, As if they feared the light." Yet we ha,ve only to go back a little further than Sir John Suckling's day to finch traditional authority for to-day's short skirt, as well as for another'fad, in the ballad of "The Nut Browne Mayd," whose lover, the "banished man," telling her of the hardships for which she must be prepared if she marries him, says that she must "Cut your hair up by your ear, Your kirtle by the knee." There is, too, the example of Maid Marian. But the skirts of these two maids were meant to meet exceptional conditions, not the whim of some man dress-designer in Paris. Mr H. D. Tiemann, the American forestry and 'timber expert, who is at present in Christchurch, expressed some very decided views about forestry conditions in Australia, ju6t before he left the Commonwealth to visit .New Zealand. He told an "Argus'' interviewer that the neglect of the forest areas of Australia was a national calamity which would have a disastrous effect upon the futiire t of the country if ttiero were not a complete change of policy. Victoria, he admitted, was far ahead of the other States in the care of her forests. B.ut it is significant that the visitor had recognised the unfortunate consequences of the tendency to give way to political influences and throw open lands for settlement, irrespective of their value, for raising .timber. Our readers willremember that we stressed the possible danger to New Zealand of a similar policy. Mr Tiemann deplored the destruction of forests by fire, that has taken place in Australia, and apparently is still taking place. "J have just been," he said, "through the forests of the West—the jarrab and kauri; and in a motor ride of some 450 miles from Perth to Pemberton I did not see a single aero of bush which had not been injured by fire. The conditions are simply appalling." It is unfortunate that our visitor's stay in New Zealand will be so short that lie cannot form an adequate opinion about forestry conditions in the Dominion.

His views might have stimulated public interest in the work of the Forestry League.

A new theory- has been put forward to account for the plague of mice in New South Wales, and for the invasion of rats which threaten to become as numerous, in some parts, as the mice and even more destructive. Some farmers believe that the widespread distribution of poisoned baits for rabbits has led to the destruction also of the natural enemies of mice and rats, such as hawks, magpies, iguanos, and other birds and animals of prey. The balance of Nature has thus been disturbed. The unfortunate farmer, apparently stands to lose whatever course he adopts. If he fails to poison, he gets into trouble with the law and rabbits overrun his property; if lie lays poison he invites an equally destructive plague of rats and mice. A gathering of Western District farmers the other day passed a resolution inviting the Government to enter into negotiations with the Pasteur Institute 1 for the purpose of securing a virus for the spread of disease among the mice. The necessity for scientists taking the matter in Hand was emphasised by the fact that the previous mouse plague caused the loss of at least a million pounds' worth of wheat, besides doing immense damage in other ways on the farms, aud the present plague is worse than the last one. .